Kim du Toit – Page 134 – Splendid Isolation

Quickie Rant

May 8, 2024 Kim du Toit Gratuitous Gun Pics, The Gun Thing

I made an observation the other day that the prices of new bolt-action rifles of any kind of quality seem to have crept up over the $1,000 mark. (I make exception here for the “budget” rifles like the Savage Axis line, by the way.)

But it’s even worse for that old stand-by of the impecunious, American mil-surps. Here, some guy sounds off about this phenomenon, and he’s absolutely right.

Given that mil-surp rifles were almost by definition produced in the jillions, they should cost no more than a few hundred dollars, even supposing that a half-jillion people want to buy these old beauties (unlikely) and especially during these times of Bidenflation. [FJB]

Here’s a random sample from Collectors:

Even an old beater is over $500:

Don’t even get me started on the Garands and M1 Carbines:

The furrin bolt-action rifles of the same vintage aren’t any exception:

These old bolties shouldn’t cost more than $600, even today. They have outdated (ergo expensive-to-feed) chamberings and are mostly battered beyond belief. That’s always been their charm — that, and the fact that you could pick one up for a few hundred bucks.

Nowadays? No chance.

In fact, the only “bargains” below $1,000 are the crappy Arisakas, Carcanos, Mosins and such. (The good Arisakas — not the “last-ditch” ones made in uncle Yoshi’s garden shed — fetch prices very close to the Enfields and Mausers as above.)

(A special mention goes to the Swedish 1896 and Schmidt-Rubin 1911 rifles, which remain well below the $1,000 red line and are still excellent rifles, albeit expensive / hard to feed, especially the latter because of their ammo costs. Even Prvi Partizan stuff is spendy.)

“Yeah, Kim,” I hear you say, “but those are Collectors prices — and they’re not known for bargains.”

Tell you what: go to your next local gun show, look for quality rifles of the above makes (i.e. that haven’t been bubba’d and have matching serial numbers and decent bores), and if you find one below a grand, buy it, send me pictorial proof thereof and I’ll send you a box of ammo for it.

Looking Into It

May 8, 2024 Kim du Toit Technology

From Airstrip One, home of the telescreen, comes this news:

A.I. speed cameras can detect how fast someone is travelling and send a report on the make, model and number plate of a vehicle to the police – but some Brits are concerned over privacy.

And of course, there’s always a willing number of the Terminally Supine who are only too pleased to lick those chains:

Louise Thomas, from Confused.com car insurance thinks it will help improve safety and protect both road users and pedestrians. “A.I. speed cameras will help catch drivers who break the law when behind the wheel, such as driving without wearing a seatbelt or for using their phone,” she said.

And no doubt, she would support compulsory implanting of microscopic ships into drivers’ brains, to cut the cost of the cameras and make surveillance of same much more “efficient”.

As for that “concern over the loss of privacy” thing: I hate to break it to you Brits, but for you that ship sailed so long ago, it’s already begun the return voyage.

Enjoy the taste of metal on your tongues.

Earworm Compilation

May 8, 2024 Kim du Toit Music

Oh good grief. I have to apologize for this atrocity, but what the hell.

Almost every song an earworm… and most of them, not for the right reasons, either.

Today’s Earworm

May 7, 2024 Kim du Toit Music

Takes it all, the winner does.

Probably Agnetha’s best performance.

Travesty? Sinful?

May 7, 2024 Kim du Toit Gratuitous Gun Pics

Seen at C.W.’s place:

Now I can think of few people who are more old-fashioned and curmudgeonly than I when it comes to guns (other than those loons who think that brass cartridges are just “a passing fad” — you know who you are).

And here are my personal favorites in this category, just so we’re all clear where I stand on the issue:

Henry Golden Boy

Cimarron 1894

Hell, the Longtime Reader who sent me the link was even grumping something about the “Ninth Circle of Hell” for the perpetrator of said modification.

Frankly, I think that the above-mentioned circle should be reserved for people like Gaston Glock or the guy who thought that trigger locks on S&W revolvers would be a neat idea.

But for the guy who created that skeletonized monstrosity in the pic?

Nazzo fast, Guido.

Yes, if that thing is chambered for the wonderful .45-70 Govt. cartridge as it seems to be, that thing is going to cause equal amounts of pain at both ends of the gun. But if I’ve learned one thing, it’s that said .45-70 is the kind of gun that is carried a lot, and fired a little (by comparison to, say, a .22 or similar). The same is true of any of the big-bore dangerous rifles, of course.

And I have to tell y’all: I think that gun in the pic is kinda cute.

Would I want to take it out of the case in front of friends? Nope, it’s like that ugly girl who happens to be a sensational lay: something enjoyed but not displayed.

But if I did go on a hunting party with that gun and a bunch of buddies, all the mockery and abuse would mean less at the end of the day when they came back to the camp exhausted from carrying their magnumthumpenblitzenboomer cannons over hill and dale, while I arrived with a slightly owie shoulder but otherwise as fresh as a daisy.

Feel free to comment on my opinion, of course.